Gods of Jasper
by Gordon Pasha
Summary: Three wolven sisters go out looking for adventure. Little do they know that what they find is going to change their lives forever, for higher powers have taken an interest in them and seek to test them. What is that test and shall the sisters succeed? Their very fate may just rely on the outcome. Prequel(ish) to "Perils of the North". Two-shot.
1. Fate

**Hello everyone. This story actually came from a dream I had about a month ago. I wrote the story as a way of making sure I would remember the whole thing. It is very weird and I wasn't going to post it, but I talked to DLW about it and he suggested I should. So here it is. **

**Naturally, I had to add a lot in terms of dialogue and description to make it into a real story but I promise that the plot is the same as was in my dream. **

* * *

_**Our eyes are ever earthwards. We are swayed**_  
_**But by the shadows of invisible light,**_  
_**And shadow against shadow is arrayed**_  
_**So that one dark may dominate the night.**_  
_**Though kinsmen are the lights that cast the shade,**_  
_**We look not up, nor see how, side by side,**_  
_**The high originals of all our pride**_  
_**In crowned and sceptred brotherhood are throned,**_  
_**Compassionate of our blindness and our hate**_  
_**That own the godship but the love disowned.**_

_**- Æ**__**, "Shadows and Lights"**_

* * *

It was an earlier time, before a certain Alpha and a certain Omega risked everything to abolish the law preventing inter-rank mating. That Alpha, Kate, was still just a pup. And on this day, she was wandering through the tall grass, farther than she had ever gone before. She was a natural explorer, constantly looking for new lands to discover.

The same thing could be said for her sister, Melanie, who followed close behind her. Melanie and Kate were natural friends and natural rivals, always competing to see who could do everything the best. It was just fun now, but it would be important someday in determining which of them would be the next leader of the pack. Right now, Melanie was trying to push past her sister and take the lead, but Kate always managed to remain a step or two ahead of her.

And finally, several paces behind, followed their much younger sister, Lilly. Kate and Melanie had been forced to drag their sister along by their parents, and neither of them particularly enjoyed the company.

"Hold on, hold on!" Lilly said, as the other two were going much too fast for her. Kate and Melanie obliged her and waited for their baby sister to catch up. However, just as Lilly reached them, she put one leg in front of the other and ended up tripping. Still being little more than a newborn, Lilly began to sniffle and whimper when she hit the ground.

"What a klutz!" Melanie said. "Mom and dad should have just ditched her when she was born!"

Kate quickly shushed her and walked over to help Lilly up. "It's alright, Lilly," she said, trying to stop Lilly's tears. "Melanie didn't mean it. She was just joking."

Melanie looked away; she had not been joking. She had always resented having a younger sister – and one who showed no interest in the competition around which her and Kate's relationship was based.

But then Melanie realized that Kate had, by helping Lilly, forfeited her advantage. The grey wolf quickly marched forward with a satisfied smile on her face. But no sooner had she seemed to do so that Kate dashed in front of her. Melanie smiled, though not without a hint of frustration.

Meanwhile, at the peak of Olympus, a great banquet was being conducted. All of the ten-thousand gods of the world and air were in attendance for this marvelous feast, crowding the massive hall of Jove, King of the Gods. Jove*himself sat upon his marvelous golden throne with his mighty lightning-bolt and scepter at his side. In his hand he held a goblet of nectar which he drunk down in one gulp. As soon as he did so, the goblet immediately filled again. He surveyed all his children, so many great and glorious beings, and as he saw them feasting upon the ambrosia before them, he had to come to one conclusion; he was bored.

The life of the gods is a very boring one. Living for hundreds of thousands of years and blessed with such great power and abundance, they spend most of their time in eating, drinking, and various other indulgences. Their lives seem to be perfect to mortal man – and they truly would be perfect except that, being drawn to no higher purpose than their own self-satisfaction and having endless time to pursue that goal, they in the first thousand years manage to grow tired of all the pleasant things that surround them. They never cease from excess, for that is their way, but continue it on with less and less satisfaction until finally they wear themselves out and die. Their debauchery, surpassing anything in the worlds, causes them to be reborn in the most miserable of existences as suffering souls in the infernal realms. After countless æons of their elevated lifestyles, most gods welcome the change.

Jove contemplated what type of party game he could come up with to amuse himself and the other gods present who, despite their lively talk, he could tell were all just as bored as himself. He considered.

Perhaps he should start another war, like that one between the Greeks and the Trojans. Ten years of brutal battles, the greatest heroes of both lands cut down before their time, and the most magnificent city in the world burned to the ground. That had been fun. But it had all been done before.

How about a plague? A nice plague to wipe out a city, a province, or a country or two. It was always worth a laugh to see those miserable humans suffer while the gods sat above, immune to every illness. But with all the virus scares of the past few years, it seemed a little overused.

Gods in general are not good innovators. They have no reason to be, considering that everything is handed to them without any effort. The purpose for their creation was to preserve the realms from demons, but since the demons had not made full-scale war in countless ages, the gods never needed to think up anything on their own.

The King of the Gods downed a few more goblets of nectar as he surveyed the subcelestial realm, looking for anything interesting to interfere with. Then he noticed the three wolves walking through the middle of the Canadian wilderness. The sky-father had not paid much attention to Canada before, but here he saw the mark of destiny imprinted on these three. This might prove interesting.

"Listen up!" his voice boomed through the hall like a crack of thunder. "I propose that we have an entertainment to accompany our meal!"

"What do you propose, father of us all?" the other gods said in unison.

"I see below me three wolves," said the sky-father. "What do you make of it?"

Immediately, up rose Sol the sun god, who protested greatly. "Wolves, sire? What have we to do with wolves? When we barely have relations with the demi-gods and men, who are so inferior to us in every way, how can we ever sink so low as to bother noticing base animals?"

"Silence!" ordered the king. "In my hall I will not have a word said against my will. I don't even have to justify myself to you, since my decisions are not for you to question, but I will so that you do not make the same mistake in the future. If a she-wolf can be the mother of one of the greatest empires the human world has ever seen**, why then shouldn't I myself look into the affairs of wolves if that interests me? Besides, destiny has marked these three for great things, and I would know what they are capable of. Who will propose to me an idea of what we shall do to them?"

After this, many gods rose and spoke. The general consensus among the gods was "Smite them!" and while Jove would not usually pass up a chance to hit something with his lightning-bolt, now he desired a more stimulating approach.

Finally, Selena the moon goddess arose and this is what he said, "Sire, I have this in mind. Why don't we test them? Let us raise a berry-bush filled with strange berries unlike any ever seen before by mortal eyes, a tempting target yet filled with hidden dangers. It is the perfect snare. Then let us see how they respond."

Jove smiled at this idea. "Very well, we shall do that. It shall be a fitting amusement to drink immortal nectar over."

As Kate pushed past through the undergrowth, she saw the berry-bush. It was incredibly tall and wide, almost a tree in its own right, and from it hung the largest and most succulent golden-red berries Kate had ever seen. They were less like berries and more like apples. Her eyes grew wide as they darted from berry to berry and immediately she was filled with the desire to eat one.

"What's the hold-up, sis?" Melanie teased as she jumped around Kate, naturally assuming that now she'd have the lead. And then she saw the berry-bush as well and her jaw dropped.

"Wow!" she said.

"'Wow' is right," Kate responded.

"What's everybody looking at?" Lilly asked when she finally caught up with them. And then she saw the berry-bush.

All three sisters gazed at it in wonder. For several minutes, none of them spoke, but each looked over this special sight. They had no idea its meaning but knew that it was unlike anything they had ever seen before.

"I'm gonna go try one," Kate said at last. And she began to walk forward.

Melanie went with her. "So am I!"

"Um, I know you two are older and smarter than I am," Lilly said, "but, um… maybe… we shouldn't eat the berries? They seem awfully strange and I don't think mommy and daddy would approve…."

Her big sisters stopped and looked at her over their shoulders.

"Fine, if you want to be a sissy and always do whatever mommy and daddy say," Melanie said, "if cry-baby Lilly is too afraid, then maybe she should just go home and leave the big wolves alone."

Melanie flashed a conspiratorial smile at Kate after saying this, certain that Kate would approve of her remark. Kate did not approve.

Lilly sulked backward and tried to hide her tears under her bangs. Melanie, satisfied with her handiwork, walked on. Kate continued to stare at Lilly with concern for a few seconds before following Melanie.

Jove clapped his hands together and laughed when he saw this. "Ah, so these wolves have emotions like men and gods do! What a marvelous thing!"

The sun god and moon goddess quickly laughed with him. And then the other gods joined in. Of them all, only Mithra did not laugh.

"I don't think we should make sport of these humble creatures," he said, just loud enough to be heard. "It is not for us, who never want for anything, to make their lives miserable for our amusement. If we must act in any way toward them, it should be for a better purpose than this!"

"First the sun speaks against me and now you do too?" Jove shouted, his voice shaking the hall. "Have I not one loyal son or daughter amongst all of you? If I hear a single word further against me, I shall cast you all out and you can live lives of misery, since that seems to be what you want in opposing my power!"

And all the gods were rendered silent.

Kate and Melanie approached the berry-bush. However, upon coming close, they realized that the berries were not within their reach at all, but at the top-half of the berry bush which they would have to reach through climbing.

"Race ya!" Melanie exclaimed.

"You're on!" Kate shot back. And both grabbed for branches and started climbing.

Amazingly enough, the branches proved strong and sturdy enough to carry the weight of both wolves and so Kate and Melanie were able to make the climb. However, it was not in any way easy for them, for each branch was covered with countless biting thorns. Kate and Melanie's paws bled more and more with each step they took.

"I don't know if I can make it!" Melanie said. "I can't take this pain much longer!"

"Just a little further, sis!" Kate, who was by now further along, "We can make it!"

But no sooner had she said it then the pain became too great for Melanie. As she reached for another branch and a new series of thorns embedded themselves in her paws, she could hold on no longer. She let go and toppled to the ground below.

Lilly came running up beside her. "Sis, are you alright? I told you we should have left it alone! Are you going to be okay? Should I get mommy and daddy?"

"Just shut up, you white rodent," Melanie said in disgust.

She knew Kate would beat her, but she did not want to miss her opportunity to try something of the bush's excellence. Her four paws were all too bloody and sore to walk, so she crawled forward until she was under the bush. Then, reaching what she could get, she tore off some leaves with her mouth and dug up one of the roots and ate them all together. Even though these were things which even Reba and Janice wouldn't stoop to eating, they tasted sweet and Melanie felt her pain eased somewhat by their flavor.

Kate was finally at a suitable height to where she could reach the berries. The sweet pleasure of her triumph outweighed the pain now coursing through her body. With her mouth, she grabbed hold of one berry and pulled it away from the branch. And then she swallowed it, nearly choking due to its size, but finally getting it down. It tasted delicious, the most delicious thing Kate had ever eaten.

"How is it?" Melanie called up to her.

"You and Lilly have got to try these things!" Kate called back enthusiastically. She immediately got two more in her mouth, but as soon as she did so, they turned to dust. Jove had had his fun and now was not about to let such a prize be carried off by mortals. So, with a stamp of his scepter, the berry-bush crumbled to the ground and Kate fell with it.

She crashed downward onto Melanie and Lilly. The berry-bush was completely gone, as though it had never existed in the first place. Even the thorns in Kate and Melanie's paws had disappeared, and their injuries so sustained had completely healed, leaving not a trace of blood.

The laughter of Jove and the other gods – except for Mithra, who looked away in shame – shook the realms. Jove clapped his hands and stamped his feet, sending the goblet of nectar crashing to the ground. He was so delighted that he took his lightning-bolt and gave it a throw, letting it fall randomly where it would in the mortal sphere and destroy whatever and whoever there stood. He could not remember having such fun in centuries.

Finally, as the laughter in the hall, which had for a time threatened to bring down the whole of Olympus, receded. Selena the moon goddess was the first to speak. "And now, my noble lord, what shall you do with these she-wolves, since it is in your infinite power?"

Jove gripped his scepter and stamped it, as he did when he wanted his pronouncements to bind the mortal realm. "These wolves have entertained me, so I shall grant each a reward as befits their actions. First, to the white one who angered me by refusing to try for the berries, I shall make it her fate to suffer for this, to be reviled by all her fellow wolves, and to be blamed for the most heinous crime that they know of. Her life will be a miserable one from this day forward for she shall be thrice-cursed to unhappiness and live in shame always. To the grey wolf, who tried and failed to reach the berries and instead settled for the roots and leaves instead, I shall give death. There is no settling in life, only victory and defeat, and she shall know it when the end comes. And finally, to my tan one, who has pleased me most exceedingly, I shall grant a glorious life. She will be the most beloved wolf in her pack and all other wolves shall look up to her and admire her. They will be loyal and would die if she gave the word. Her power and happiness will know no limits. Life, death, and worse-than-death; these are the things I grant."

He stamped his scepter again and it was so. Kate climbed off of Melanie and Lilly and led the two of them back toward home. Filled yet with a pup's innocence and wonder, none of them questioned what had happened to the bush or why it had disappeared. It was merely another example of the magic that they saw everywhere. None of them could have known that their actions had determined where their lives would lead.

Within a month, Melanie would fall to her death during a race with Kate over a log-bridge connecting two cliffs. Poor Lilly, who hadn't even been there at the time, would be blamed for the whole thing and cursed to live her life as the shy Omega nobody ever gave a second thought to. And Kate would become the finest Alpha the Western Pack would ever see, the darling of her parents' eye, a future leader beloved by her whole pack, and the hope for a bright future ahead.

Jove, having had his fun, now sunk back into the perpetual boredom with is the lot of the gods, and never once gave any more thought to the three she-wolves whose fates he had sealed that day.

Little did he know that he had sealed his own fate with them.

* * *

***Jove, a form of Jupiter, the Roman god equivalent to Zeus. I have mixed mythologies throughout.**

****Rome**


	2. Destiny

**I know this story was originally supposed to be a one-shot, based on a dream I had. But the more and more I think about it, the more and more it seems wrong to me to end it on such a depressing note without any hope for what is to come Therefore, I am combining it with a story-idea I've had for a long while to give this story a better and more hopeful ending. **

* * *

There was a change in the wind, Ambrose felt it. He had been meditating in his high-mountain cave when, suddenly, he picked up on strange energy. Something new had clearly been introduced into Jasper. Ambrose could sense it and, from the type of energy, he felt he already had a particularly good idea of what it was. He jumped to his feet and began to run down the mountain path. This was an emergency and he knew he had precious little time to waste.

He did not even have to wonder about where to go. In his mind's eye, he could see the energy trail leading him onward, onward into the forest, onward toward three young she-wolves whose fates had been decided that day.

But the three were, by this time, already returning home and nearing their parents' den. Thus, Ambrose had to follow the trail all that way. It was not difficult for him, but he knew that it might lead him to other wolves and the secret of his existence would be out. And that was one secret he was not ready to reveal.

Ambrose finally managed to reach them just as they were arriving home. Winston was already standing in the distance, smiling and waving as his three daughters approached, Kate and Melanie jockeying for position in front and Lilly dragging along somewhat behind. And Ambrose could see quite clearly, in a mystical sense, that each of them had been marked. Marked by the gods of old with their childish conceits. He saw clearly that Kate was marked to thrive, Melanie to die, and Lilly to suffer worse than death.

Ambrose snarled as his eyes turned upward, toward the direction of Olympus. "Curse you, you wretched beings!" he barked under his breath. "Why can't you just keep to yourselves and not interfere with the lives of those to whom you are not given to interfere? Do you not realize that there is a spirit in the world that judges you just as it judges us? You shall pay for your insolence in time, for the time comes when your puny rule shall be wiped away and by that spirit shall a new age be inaugurated!"

As he watched the three wolves, he sighed. The gods had had their fun, this was certain. And perhaps things would take that course; Ambrose knew it was ultimately up to the three wolves themselves, whatever the gods said, for fate and free will are not so easily untangled as Jove and his ilk would believe. But still, Ambrose did not like them trying to having any influence into things which were not given them.

"So I shall add a little destiny of my own," Ambrose whispered, for he knew that the powers of an enlightened being are greater than those of any of the gods trapped in arrogance. He readied himself and walked quickly over to where Winston stood.

"Look at Kate and Melanie," Winston said with a smile. "They both have the makings of fine pack leaders someday. I wonder which one will actually succeed me. I've got to get back to Tony soon with my choice as to who will marry his son."

"That is not a hard question to answer," said Ambrose behind him.

Winston turned around swiftly to see the old wolf standing there. He was surprised and greatly worried. "Who are you? I have never seen you before in our valley!"

Ambrose chuckled a little. He knew that Winston had seen him before, but simply did not remember it. That was Ambrose's own doing.

"Never mind that for now," Ambrose said, "for I have come for a very specific reason. I shall answer the questions which you have just been asking yourself. But tell me, where is your lovely wife?"

"I'm right here," said a voice coming toward them. Winston shuttered as he saw that Eve had her eye focused with murderous glare on Ambrose.

"And how could you possibly tell us these things?" Eve said skeptically. "And why should we trust you when we don't even know you? How do you even know who we are, since we've never met?"

Ambrose smiled. He could tell he was going to have to go through with this conversation every time he had to speak with Eve. He said, "As I have said, who I am is unimportant. Merely a seer of sorts who lives out in the wilderness. And that is why I know the answers to these questions."

"You expect us to believe that? What do you take us for?" Eve said. It was evident that she considered Ambrose a threat and was already thinking about how best to dispose of him.

"Please, dear, let's just hear out what he has to say," Winston said, not truly believing Ambrose but wanting to keep Eve from doing anything rash. "That, at least, can't do us any harm."

Eve growled. "I suppose you're right, but he had better not try anything."

Ambrose smiled warmly. "I wouldn't dream of it," he said.

"Very well," Winston said, "go on. Tell us which of my daughters shall marry Tony's son and unite the packs."

"It is very simple," Ambrose said. "The daughter of yours which shall unite the packs shall be the first one to kiss her mother."

**(Author's Note: As some of you may notice, this prophecy is based on the one**

**which predicted that Lucius Junius Brutus would found the Roman Republic.)**

"Really, the first one to kiss her mother?" Winston said, trying to hide his own skepticism. "It is that easy?"

"Winston, really, you are so cynical at times," Eve said behind him with a smile. She was obviously flattered that she had been worked into the prophecy.

Ambrose grinned pleasantly. He knew neither of them understood the true meaning of his words.

"Kate, Melanie, Lilly," Eve called. "Come quickly. It's time to get home!"

All three pups, wanting to please their mother, broke into a run. Kate and Melanie raced each other to reach their parents first and receive their praises. Lilly did it best to keep up with the others but she obviously was nowhere near as fast.

But she did try. She tried so hard that she accidently put one of her front legs straight in the path of the other and toppled to the ground. She landed hard and sent up a cloud of dust as he face became planted in the dirt.

Kate and Melanie raced forward with all possible speed, like horses running neck and neck to the finish line of a track. For many moments, it was unclear which would get to Eve first. But, at the last possible moment, Kate found an extra ounce of speed in herself and managed to outpace Melanie. She reached her mother first and leapt up to lick Eve's face.

Winston leaned over to Ambrose. "I guess we know which one shall unite the packs," he whispered.

Ambrose smiled as his eyes focused on Lilly, who had picked herself up and was trudging over to join her sisters, looking down at her paws with shame and embarrassment.

"Yes, we do," he said.

Winston and Eve both turned to face Ambrose and further speak of this, but both met with a surprise. He was gone.

"Where did he go?" Eve said in alarm. "He just disappeared!"

"What a strange person," Winston said. "I wonder if we'll ever see him again."

Lilly finally reached her parents, a tear in her eye. She had hoped for some affection and comfort from her mother and father but they were both too occupied with her sisters to notice. Lilly cast her head down again in sorrow. It seemed to her that she was just not meant to be as important to their lives as her sisters were.

From behind a nearby tree, Ambrose watched. "Do not cry, little one," he said, "for you too shall have your day. I have used magic just now which has overridden the gods' pathetic attempts to control destiny and restored it to a higher course. You shall not suffer a life like this forever. For when I said that the one who unites the packs will be the first one to kiss her mother, I did not mean Eve. I meant that mother from whence all come, from the Earth itself. And you, purest Lilly of lilies, were the first to do that. Your day shall come. Winston and Eve will not remember me, for that spell I cast when I brought you to them must hold a little longer, but your day shall come. This I promise, my little miracle, this I promise you."

Then, as quickly as he had come, he was gone. As he returned to his mountain home, his heart grew light with laughter. The gods had tried their best to undo what was being done to bring about the new age in Jasper, but their own efforts would be undone, and their powers already now were growing less and less. The new age would come after all; all that was left was to wait and work for it as it was being born.


End file.
